


Shadows and Fangs - The Years After

by Hien



Series: Shadows and Fangs [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Children, Family, Fluff, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-12 15:37:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9078970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hien/pseuds/Hien
Summary: Just a few random scenes offering a view into Shikadai's world growing up.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As promised, here are a few extra snippets more focused on Shikadai. There's no underlying plot, it's just a collection of scenes from his childhood that I'm posting for fun, since I'd already written them. :)
> 
> Enjoy! And Happy Holidays!
> 
> In case you didn't come here because you read 'Shadows and Fangs', you should know that in this universe Shikadai's parents are Shikamaru and Kiba, and Hana is his biological mother, not Temari.

 

* * *

When the time came – all too quickly – for their children to start attending the Ninja Academy, no one except Shino was actually ready for it. Oh, the Aburame was raring to go – rumors abounded of how passionately he'd insisted to be the one in charge of that particular class for the past five years. Blackmail, threats, bribes, strikes, official motions, pranks…not a single scenario had been left out and each had made Shino's frown deepen even more while Kiba laughed even louder.

His former team for their part were positively thrilled that he was so excited, but Karui thought that only further proved 'how weird the guy is'.

Among the parents, reactions varied greatly; among the children, not so much.

Lee, having returned home a few years back and already set his son on the path of Konoha's Green Beast (as he'd put it), rather enjoyed watching them fret, a trait he shared with his son – and his former teacher.

Tenten and Omoi had eventually gotten married in Kumo, and a few years later she'd opened her own weapons shop, an old childhood dream of hers. And just a few months earlier, she'd given birth to twin girls they'd called Mayui and Nemui – so a start at the academy was nowhere near on the horizon for them just yet.

In Suna, Temari and Sojiro's daughter Natsu had already been acing her classes for the better part of a year, closely followed by her rival and cousin Shinki. Because of the scars left by Temari's pregnancy, they hadn't had any other children, despite having originally wanted to – but they were quite happy as they were, all things considered. On top of being a natural with the Satoshi clan's poison blood release, she'd also inherited the ability to control sand, which had the entire village quite excited about her future.

Gaara and Darami, surprisingly, didn't remain idle. One year after Shinki, they'd had a girl they named Yodo, and then the next year, a boy named Araya. When jokingly asked why they'd been in such a hurry, they seriously replied it was easier to just leave the toddler stage for good at one point rather than to drag it on over half a decade or more. (It was a very valid point.)

Gaara also added that it was the age difference he and his siblings shared, and his wish was for his children to be as close as they'd become. (Kankuro and Temari nearly teared up upon hearing this and those present politely pretended not to notice.)

After years of near-breakups, Kankuro had gotten his act together and married Tsuneo – after coming to the conclusion that however terrifying it was being with him, it was nothing compared to being _without_ him, in the end. Together they'd adopted an orphaned boy called Shigure, whom he hoped to eventually train as a puppeteer – as he was Araya's age though, he wouldn't start the academy just yet.

Through it all, the puppet master still had a really hard time toning down his smugness every time one of his nieces or nephews commented on how cool he was – 'Uncle Kankuro' was definitely _completely_ the most easily persuaded (and manipulated) adult around them.

But in Konoha, Naruto bragged about how he'd taught all sorts of pranks to his son, while Hinata reassured their friends (and mostly Shino) that she'd _also_ had a talk with him to remind him to think things through before acting. Boruto just chuckled gleefully as he mentally went over all the stuff he'd get to do now that his parents and little sister wouldn't be looking over his shoulder all day long.

Chouji was scared to let his little girl go, while Karui was happy to see her getting started 'for real'. Chocho for her part couldn't wait to leave her mark on the village – and just worried about having to sit through all those classes without snacks, although Shino would likely make an exception for her, right? Because he and her daddy were pals, weren't they? And pals didn't let their pals' children starve in class, did they?

Sai was almost more curious than his son, since he hadn't attended the academy himself, while Ino held high hopes for him to uphold the Yamanakas' excellent academic standards. Inojin did his best to keep both parents equally pleased and appeased – but on the inside, he was bursting with excitement at the prospect of doing so many new things.

Sakura was as excited as her daughter, because she'd always loved school herself, 'and that's where you meet your friends for life', she'd added sagely. Sarada put on a happy smile for her, but secretly looked around in hopes of seeing a tall black-haired man who never showed up – never matter, she was going to be so good that when he finally did, he'd be extra-proud of her!

Kiba actually didn't know if he was more excited for Shino or his kid, and Shikamaru indulged him as he tried to help motivate their son. Shikadai clearly didn't see what all the fuss was about – he already knew who he was going to team up with anyway, right? And it wasn't like he'd learn his clan's techniques at the academy…nothing that couldn't be learned elsewhere would be taught there! All school would do was throw his carefully constructed napping schedule into chaos…

But the children soon all realized that the academy was fun, all things considered. Sure, you had to sit and be quiet, but you learned about great shinobi, and which plants could be used as weapons or be safely eaten, and how to properly throw a shuriken without hurting yourself (it was harder than it looked), and the amazing things they'd be able to do with their chakra one day, and a million of other cool things that you could even practice on your own when the lessons were over. Being with your friends all day long was nice, too – the best part, actually.

Mirai and Kao were genin now, so they weren't at school with them, but Shisen was, with his nin-dog Kimaru, and he never missed an opportunity to find his cousin during recess to show him the 'amazingly advanced' things he'd learned that morning.

Truly, Shisen had to be the most curious person Shikadai had ever met in his whole five years of existence: he always wanted to see, touch, smell, understand and share everything. He was also the most affectionate person he'd ever met (and he was half-Inuzuka, so that was saying a lot). He and Kimaru – because nin-dogs more often than not ended up taking their cues from their master – usually greeted him with a hug, and he'd given up on fighting them off long ago because they truly looked hurt when he did it so he figured it was okay.

Metal Lee often tagged along with him, since they were in the same class, and had similar enthusiasm levels, but _he_ greeted him with a nice-guy pose, not a hug, thankfully – even if sometimes he looked like he was considering trying the hugging thing too.

Shikadai liked them, but he always felt like taking a nap after they left. (He usually did, too, to his uncle Shino's sadness and resignation.)

And yeah, admittedly, he enjoyed school, after he'd gotten over the initial agony of having to wake up early in the morning and leave his cozy bed to _walk_ there – when Akamaru wasn't available to carry him.

The first time he actually hated it was when Shino taught them about clans one day – specifically, about how they all had their specialties and secrets that are only passed down to their members. Most kids in their class thought it was extremely cool.

Shikadai just realized that meant he'd never get a nin-dog like his cousins, because he was a Nara, not an Inuzuka – even though he'd been looking forward to it since Shisen got his last year. And he now understood why they had red marks on their cheeks but he didn't. He cried a bit that day – he was five, he was allowed to, okay?

And Inojin and Chocho proved they were amazing best friends by covering for him to make sure no one else saw him and then did their best to cheer him up – Inojin by giving him a drawing of a really cool-looking nin-dog, Chocho by exceptionally sharing her favorite potato chips with him.

Besides, even if he wouldn't get a nin-dog of his own, he still had Akamaru, and Akamaru was the best nin-dog in the whole wide world. (Even the Kazekage said so, and if a Kage said it, it had to be true, right?) And he also regularly got to play with Kuromaru, and the Haimaru triplets, and Aomaru and Kimaru, so it was okay.

Manipulating shadows sounded really cool, too.

And that was only the beginning anyway!

* * *

If there was one thing Shikadai had inherited from his Nara genes, other than a predilection for napping, it was his tendency to mull over things on his own for some time before asking for clarification with accuracy and usually pointed expectations. Shikamaru and Kiba had long learned not to press him when he got into one of these 'moods', since he always ended up bringing his 'problems' to them anyway.

Still, when he stopped in front of his parents as they were lounging on the couch one evening and asked Shikamaru, "Dad, what's love, and how is different between couples?"

Well…there was a pause as they looked at each other in surprise at this particular subject.

Shikamaru hummed as he sat up cross-legged, wondering how one went about answering a question like that, particularly to a child.

Kiba chuckled as he gently pat his lap, which Shikamaru's head had just vacated, and Shikadai wasn't long in climbing up to look at them expectantly. "Hey, why didn't you ask _me_ , pup?" he asked him as he pretended to be hurt.

Shikadai leaned his head back against his chest to look up at him and frowned very seriously. "Because you'd answer with sounds, not words – and this is important!" he insisted.

Far from being offended, Kiba only laughed and squeezed him tightly. "Oh, you're so cute and funny it's unbearable!" he declared as he nuzzled his cheek, grin widening as that got him chortles and half-hearted attempts to escape his clutches.

Truth be told, he _would_ answer that question with something along the lines of, "It's when you look at someone and _whoosh_ , your heart goes _bam_ and suddenly you're all _wobbly-wobbly_ and you act like _whoa_ but inside you really feel all _whoop_!" (He made no excuses for himself.)

"How come you're wondering about this all of a sudden?" Shikamaru asked back, stalling for time – because _really_ , how are you supposed to explain love to a six-years old?

"There are these two girls at the academy who're always following Inojin around – and they even told him they were in love with him, but that seems weird," Shikadai started, wiggling his nose in distaste. "You two are in love, and it's nowhere near as creepy as them – so what does it mean?"

"Ah, the throes of first romance!" Kiba cooed, sharing a look with his husband. "I guess Inojin is this generation's Sasuke! Ino must be so proud!" he added as he wiggled his eyebrows.

Forget 'proud', she was probably giving him pointers!

Shikamaru couldn't help but smirk back and then sighed as he wondered what would make sense to their son. "Well, love is…first of all, it's not the same whether you love someone, or are _in love_ with them," he started, trying to keep it simple. "You love your family and your friends – it's a really strong affection you feel for the people who are closest to you. Do you follow me so far?"

Shikadai nodded slowly, looking down at Kiba's hands around his middle. "Yeah, I think," he confirmed with a nod. "Like I love Akamaru, and Inojin too but not in that creepy way those girls do," he added matter-of-factly, smiling slightly as Akamaru barked happily and moved over to lick his cheek.

Kiba snorted in amusement, mouthing 'too cute' to the other, and Shikamaru cleared his throat because Shikadai narrowed his eyes at him the second he dared to stop being serious.

"Yes, like that," he confirmed. "Being _in_ love though…well, generally, you're only in love with _one_ person at a time – and if you're lucky and it's mutual, you might end up spending your life together." Kiba nodded slightly as though to reassure him that was good enough, but their son didn't look completely satisfied.

"But how is it _different_?" he insisted. "How do you love dad differently than anyone else?"

"Yeah, Shika, how _do_ you love me?" Kiba repeated innocently, looking quite interested – and completely impervious to the shadow nin's unimpressed look.

Shikamaru mentally commented to himself that those two were way two similar for _his_ own good, and then sighed. "Well…it just _feels_ different – even just _physically_. When you're in love with someone, your body reacts to them – to their voice, to their touch, to their words, to everything – and it reacts _differently_ than with anybody else."

"But in a good way, right?" the child wondered with a frown.

"In an _amazing_ way," Kiba assured him happily.

"I still don't get it," Shikadai admitted, crossing his arms over his chest unhappily as he didn't like not understanding things. "How can your body react differently? Is it like when you're hungry?"

"More like when something feels good," Shikamaru gently corrected in amusement.

"Wait…you mean like kissing and stuff," Shikadai said somewhat reproachfully with narrowed eyes.

"Yes, like kissing and stuff," Shikamaru confirmed, fighting back an amused grin.

Kiba laughed at their antics and then gently pushed Shikadai over towards Shikamaru. "Humor me," he told them both. "Shikadai, listen to his heartbeat."

The child raised an eyebrow but did as instructed, pressing his ear to his father's chest. "Now what?"

"Keep listening," Kiba instructed. "Can you feel the steady rhythm?" he asked him.

"Yeah," Shikadai confirmed with his eyes closed while Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, wondering what the point of that exercise was.

But Kiba only smiled mysteriously before reaching to place a hand on Shikamaru's cheek as he looked into his eyes and said, very clearly and earnestly, "I love you, Shikamaru."

Shikadai's eyes snapped open and he pulled back, looking up at Shikamaru in surprise. "Your heart went all funny when he said that!"

Kiba grinned proudly, looking quite satisfied with himself as Shikamaru grabbed his hand.

The shadow-nin smiled down at their son, raising his free hand to gently pat his head. "See? I told you – the body reacts too."

Shikadai nodded seriously, as though having reached a deeper understanding, and then hummed as he moved back to Kiba and pressed his ear to _his_ heart. "Let's check over here too!"

"It's not infallible, pup!" Kiba fondly chided him as he gently ruffled his hair, looking up when Shikamaru called his name.

"I love you too," was all he said, with his usual confident smirk.

…How could his heart _not_ skip a beat at that expression, even after all these years?

When Shikadai pulled back, he was visibly satisfied that this theory had been tested and confirmed. "Your heart went funny too, dad!"

"Yep, it sure did!" Kiba confirmed happily, sharing a look with Shikamaru and squeezing his hand.

The younger Nara paused and looked between them suspiciously before his gaze trailed down to their joined hands, and he huffed once. "You're going to kiss now, aren't you?"

"We'd definitely like to," Shikamaru confirmed with a smirk.

"May we?" Kiba asked as he chuckled at his expression.

Shikadai sighed and pressed his hands over his eyes, finally declaring: "Okay, you can kiss now." He felt them move and he wiggled his nose as if it was gross for the principle, but inside he felt really happy – and he was peeking through his fingers anyway.

So maybe he still didn't understand what love really was, but he was sure glad his parents felt it.

* * *

Shortly after the end of his first year at the academy, once Shikadai had learned about chakra, more specifically how to feel and use it throughout his body, his parents (finally) started teaching him some more interesting things. Shikamaru didn't teach him about shadows yet, because he insisted it was a technique that was still too advanced for him, and as he was right now it would just exhaust him. Kiba however had something else in mind that could be improved gradually and daily.

"I'm going to teach you how to smell things like I do!" he declared happily as he half-dragged him into the garden while Akamaru followed them with a cheery bark.

By nature, those of Inuzuka blood had a better than average sense of smell – even without any particular training so far, Shikadai had already baffled Shikamaru more than a few times with what he could smell. In the Inuzuka clan, scent training started much earlier, as he'd seen with Kao and Shisen, yet he knew that it was a technique that could also be worked on for other people, to a lesser degree – after all, their Hokage the Sixth was also a good tracker. But those extra couple of years, paired with their innate ability, gave the Inuzukas an extra boost that no amount of additional training could ever catch up to.

"Think I could learn it as well, to a smaller extent?" Shikamaru wondered curiously as he sat down to look at them both.

"You can take my place," Shikadai immediately volunteered, trying to sneak off.

"Not so fast, pup!" Kiba said fondly as he grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him in place. "Sorry Shika, but that wouldn't be conclusive. You're too old," he added with a shrug.

"Not what you were saying the other night," the Nara drawled back, taking advantage of the time they had left during which their son wouldn't understand their innuendos.

Kiba grinned widely as he visibly enjoyed the reminder but still shook his head. "You already assimilate smells to things or people; the training would be too confusing for you," he explained differently.

"I know how things smell!" Shikadai insisted with a frown. "I'm too old too!"

The Inuzuka chuckled at this as he kneeled to be at his eye level. "What does smoke smell like?" he humored them both.

"Bad," was the response, given in a tone that clearly said, ' _obviously, dad'_.

"Shikamaru?" Kiba then asked his husband, hand ruffling their son's hair.

"Old friends," the Nara said.

"And pears?" Kiba tried again.

"Food," Shikadai replied with a shrug, yet again stating the obvious.

"Akimichi liquor," Shikamaru admitted, humming at Kiba's look, finally seeing his point. "Okay, I get it. Blank slate required."

Kiba smirked in satisfaction as he knelt down in front of their kid. "Won't it be great to be able to do something even your father can't?" he asked excitedly, appealing to a young boy's competitive side – and knowing he'd won the second he'd said that. "Okay, so put your hands together like I showed you," he instructed, gently correcting his fingers. "You'll only need to do these seals in the beginning, eventually your body will automatically adapt. Think of it as gradually opening a faucet."

In the Inuzuka clan, children started this exercise earlier – any time after they'd turned three, really, it was up to the parents. But since Shikadai was a Nara, Kiba had been instructed to wait a bit longer – which he didn't exactly mind as he understood _why_ , although on occasions the wait had been agony. Once the training began however, it went on at all times – it was something Shikadai wouldn't even need to be _consciously_ working on so much as something he'd naturally assimilate.

"Now close your eyes and slowly concentrate on your chakra as it flows through your body. Wait until you really feel it, we're in no hurry. Then little by little, direct it to your nose."

"It smells like grass and Akamaru," Shikadai informed him plainly a moment later, nose wrinkling slightly at the strain.

Akamaru barked happily and Shikamaru grinned at his matter-of-fact tone – the kid was hilarious.

"Good," Kiba said with a grin. "Now just focus a bit more – try to smell something that's in the house, like the cakes Chocho gave you earlier," he gently encouraged. They had cinnamon in them so he could smell them without even trying, he figured it was a good start.

Shikadai hummed and wrinkled his nose even more, eyes scrunching in concentration until they snapped open and he winced, hands going to his nose. "It hurts! The smells are too strong!" he protested, feeling his eyes water at the different smells assaulting his nostrils.

"It's okay," Kiba reassured him calmly as he immediately pulled his shirt up to cover his nose. "Relax, breathe your own scent, focus on that only and calm down," he said gently as he pulled him against him, pressing his face to his chest, and watching as he calmed down quickly. "See? When the smells get too strong, you just focus on what reassures you – your own scent, or very familiar ones, like mine," he explained patiently. "That was excellent for a first try," he praised proudly.

"Can I have one of those cakes now?" Shikadai's muffled voice asked in childlike expectation.

"Smell good, don't they?" Kiba asked him knowingly, grin widening as he felt him nod. "Okay, off you go – just _one_!" The boy didn't need to be told twice and hurried away towards the kitchen, though he kept his shirt pressed to his nose.

Shikamaru smiled warmly to himself as he watched them. Kiba was really excellent with children. He had a way of teaching their son that was always great to watch, and he never lost his cool. There was just one thing that worried him about Shikadai learning to use his sense of smell like that…

They'd have to contend with him asking why they smelled so much like each other, and potentially certain days more than others.

He felt a headache coming along already just thinking about it. Naturally Kao had already graced them with a widely innocent but very matter-of-factly, "You two _really_ smell like each other – like mommy and daddy!" – But this was _their son_! (Shisen was thankfully better-behaved, clearly having taken after his father.)

So troublesome.

"What's troublesome?" Kiba asked him knowingly as he stopped in front of him.

Shikamaru chuckled fondly, glad he knew him so well. "I was just thinking that it won't be long until he asks us why we smell like each other," he replied simply.

The Inuzuka rolled his eyes playfully at that. "It won't be long until he asks us all sort of embarrassing questions, whether he smells that or not," he reminded him as he leaned down to press a kiss to his lips.

"So if you're kissing and all, that means training's over, right?" Shikadai asked hopefully from the door, half-eaten cake in hand.

"Nice try," Kiba replied with a fond chuckle before shrugging his head to the side. "But we're just getting started. Come on, this is only the beginning – eventually you won't need to concentrate anymore to do it, and you'll learn to block anything disagreeable!" he promised him cheerfully. "No one will ever make fun of you for losing to a fart like your old man did!"

Ever. Not if he had any say in it.

Shikadai frowned and pouted like only a child could, sighing at the Tyranny of the adults (yes, undoubtedly deserving of a capital letter) as he stuffed the remainder of the cake into his mouth and walked back to the grass.

Shikamaru grinned warmly as he looked at them. He had work to do, but there was no way he was going to miss out on this. Watching children grow and learn, turning into their own distinctive _person_ was truly the most entertaining thing in the world. And when it was your own kid, that feeling was exponentially increased. It felt amazing.

* * *

When Akamaru licked his cheek to wake him up as usual that morning, Shikadai blinked his eyes sleepily a few times before yawning widely, finally sitting up as the nin-dog nudged him. "Mornin'," he said around another yawn, chuckling as he was treated to another lick. More by habit than real concentration, he got ready for school and then joined his parents in the kitchen, yawning once more for the principle as he greeted them.

"Morning pup!" Kiba replied with a wide grin.

Shikamaru smiled back at him from his spot by the stove, and for a moment Shikadai was worried because his dad regularly ended up burning things when it was his turn to cook breakfast. But this morning, he looked okay – fully awake, with that small smile never leaving his face.

Shikadai frowned at this. Actually, both his parents had a silly smile on their faces. And taking a tentative sniff, he wriggled his nose as they smelled a bit _more_ like each other than usual. Of course, that wasn't the first time it had happened, but…maybe it had something to do with what he'd heard last night?

He put it out of his mind when a delicious smelling breakfast was placed down in front of him, and then once he was done, try as he might, he couldn't delay their departure from the house. He walked alongside Akamaru as they avoided the few puddles remaining on the streets from the previous night's storm, but a look over his shoulders told him his parents weren't far behind, and his eyes lingered on their joined hands.

They got to their usual crossroad and Akamaru licked his cheek goodbye and then his dad kneeled down next to him to wipe his cheek and tell him to have a fun day too before leaving. Shikamaru then held out his hand to him and he took it. They walked together to the academy in comfortable silence, but Shikadai couldn't help but look up at him from time to time – he looked really pleased with something. When they got there, Shikamaru rested his hand on his head for a second before wishing him a good day and then turned around as usual.

Shikadai watched him go with a frown, and then looked up as Chocho called his name happily. He managed to put this out of his mind for most of the day, but as he couldn't forget about it completely, once school was over he told his friends he'd meet them at the park and went to stand next to their professor.

"Shikadai, is everything alright?" Shino asked him as he looked down at him.

"Uncle Shino, I need to ask you something," the child declared with a frown, using 'uncle' instead of 'professor' to make it obvious this was important and personal. Looking around to make sure nobody was listening in, he lowered his voice and cupped a hand around his mouth just in case. "It's about my parents."

Shino raised an eyebrow and kneeled down so he'd be at his level. "Did something happen?"

"I'm not sure," the young Nara admitted. "See, this morning they looked really happy – and dad had this stupid grin on his face all the time as he walked me here. And they really smelled like each other," he listed.

"I…see," Shino noted before clearing his throat. "Is that so unusual?" he asked, because he really didn't think it was, knowing those two.

Shikadai looked to the side as he thought about it, coming to the conclusion that no, not really. "That's happened before," he agreed, but then added, "But last night I went to the bathroom and I heard sounds coming from their room."

"Ah," Shino said simply.

"Yeah, like moans, and pants, and they kept saying each other's name," Shikadai continued with a frown, looking at him in confusion. "Is that normal?"

The Aburame managed to stifle the urge to reach for his phone and call Kiba over immediately, because the way his honorary nephew was looking at him, so earnest and trustful, was something he couldn't bear to shatter. "Yes, it's normal," he told him with certainty. Shikadai visibly wanted more information, so he tried to give it to him, as neutrally as possible. "It's something that couples do to express their love for each other."

"And _that_ makes them grin stupidly the day after?" the child asked dubiously.

"Sometimes it does, obviously."

Shikadai nodded slowly as he tried to accept the new information. "So it's something _good_?" he clarified.

"Absolutely," Shino confirmed with a nod. "Regular mutually satisfying physical intimacy is proof that a couple is still strong," he added.

"Mutually what…?" Shikadai repeated with a frown.

Shino paused at this, wondering why the heck it had to fall to him to have this talk with him – if they knew, Kiba and Shikamaru would kill him. "It just means that your parents are very happy together and still in love – and you shouldn't disturb them when they're like that," he added for the principle.

"You mean it can stop?" Shikadai asked him in a small voice.

Shino frowned as he opened his mouth to ask for more details but the child went on.

"They could stop being happy and loving each other? Parents can do that?" the young Nara asked, looking absolutely horrified at the thought, because yeah, sometimes it was embarrassing how his parents were all lovey, but that didn't mean he wanted them to stop it altogether!

"No!" the teacher assured him as he placed his hands on his shoulders. "Or more accurately, it's been known to happen sometimes to _other people_ , but with Kiba and Shikamaru it would never," he assured him, trying to repair the damage he'd unwittingly caused.

That seemed to placate Shikadai, and he looked at him seriously. "You promise?"

"Yes, I promise," Shino replied although he knew this wasn't really for him to promise – still, he was fairly confident Kiba and Shikamaru wouldn't cause him to break his word any time soon. "So don't worry okay? Your parents are just fine," he repeated to completely appease him.

Shikadai nodded back slowly, finally looking convinced.

And another thing… "Let's keep this conversation just between us, okay?" Shino asked unashamedly.

"Sure thing, Uncle Shino!" Shikadai replied with an Inuzuka-ish grin, tilting his head to the side. "Can I talk to you again if I have other questions sometimes?"

"Of course," the Aburame immediately replied, gingerly patting his head. Letting out a fond breath as he watched him go, he found himself really hoping that this conversation wouldn't come back to haunt him someday. Part of him wondered whether he should drop some hints to Kiba, maybe advise him to try and be quieter, but then he figured it was a normal part of life and he shouldn't get further involved – he didn't want to betray Shikadai's trust, either.

People often asked him whether he felt sad, not having a child of his own, but how could he, we he had classes full of them, and Mirai, Boruto, Shikadai and Himawari looking up to him as they did?

* * *

Shikamaru smiled to himself as he recognized Chouji's number on the caller display, bringing it up to his ears. "Hey, Chouji, what's going on?" he asked him easily as he leaned back in his seat.

" _This is a fair warning_ ," his friend started seriously, whispering in the receiver. " _Karui just gave Chocho_ ' _the talk_ '."

"'The talk'," Shikamaru repeated with a frown.

"' _The talk_ '!" Chouji confirmed, his tone ghastly.

"She's barely nine!" He honestly didn't remember exactly when he'd learned the finer points of human reproduction – yeah, probably around that age – but his father had waited until his graduation from the academy to _helpfully_ supply a mass of unnecessary details that further convinced him he wasn't too keen on ever being with a woman.

" _I know_ ," Chouji lamented, clearly heartbroken that his little girl would now look at them knowingly when they'd go to bed. " _She didn't ask about you two or Shikadai yet, there was probably already enough mind-scarring information exchanged, but knowing how curious she can be, I'd say it's only a matter of days…_ "

"As long as she doesn't ask which one of us is the mother…" Shikamaru muttered, dreading Karui's response on the subject – probably something along the lines of, 'Shikamaru and Kiba? They're not like most men, they like to do some weird shit to each other,' followed by an explicit list of examples he barely even dared to think about—and he was the one purportedly _doing_ said 'weird shit'.

Chocho would never look at them the same way again – although he supposed it would apply to everyone, as when you're a child, realizing that your parents and the other adults in your life are not only _human_ and they're actually _people_ came as a shock.

" _Seeing_ _as Chocho shares everything with Inojin and Shikadai, I thought I'd better let you know, so you can tell him the more important bits on your own – I'm gonna call Ino next…_ " Chouji added, visibly trying to cheer him up – and not looking forward to _that_ conversation.

"And we appreciate the heads-up, thank you," Shikamaru assured him, exchanging a few more jokes before hanging up. Letting his head roll back to stare blankly at the ceiling, he sighed deeply as he stood, walking to find Kiba in his own office. "So…Karui just gave Chocho _the talk_ ," he said without preamble.

"She's barely nine!" Kiba noted with a frown as his head snapped up. He'd already had _the talk_ by that time, since his mother had had to explain the dogs' behaviors at some point, but their kids seemed so young and innocent! So much so that he was even slowly getting to see the point of parents who hoped to keep their kids from dating until they turned at least thirty!

The shadow-nin chuckled fondly as he walked to lean back against his desk to face him. "Well, it's done – she knows where babies come from," he declared with a sigh. "So it won't be long until she realizes that neither of us is equipped for that part," he added pensively.

Kiba let out a huff at this, running a hand through his hair absently. "Well…I suppose we've stalled as long as we could, right?" he finally replied. "I was actually expecting Inojin to pop up one day quoting Sai's textbook lessons, so…" he trailed off with a shrug.

Shikamaru nodded as he reached to move a strand of his hair back into place. "Tomorrow?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kiba sighed and grabbed his hand to pull him to his lap, resting his nose against his shoulder. "Tomorrow," he agreed, voice muffled. "I should also let Hana know…" he then added with another sigh.

Why the hell did kids grow up so damn fast?

(Seriously. Why?)

* * *

In retrospect, they should've known Shikadai would once again throw them in for a loop and defy their every prediction.

"I know," Shikadai said simply once they'd breached the subject of ( _ahem_ ) reproduction, resolutely not looking them in the eyes.

"You…know?" Kiba repeated in surprise.

"Well…yeah – I mean it would've been hard not to notice I was the only one with two dads and no mom," the child replied with a frown, stating the obvious.

Which was evident when it was put like that, Shikamaru had to concede. "So then why didn't you ever ask us about it?" he wondered.

Shikadai looked away with a cross between a pout and a frown – his typical expression when he was embarrassed. "Because I'm happy like that," he mumbled, clearly annoyed with them for making him _say_ it.

"Well, we're happy to hear that. But don't you have any questions though?" Kiba asked him with a raised eyebrow, relieved that he felt that way but still feeling that they should be open.

"About what?" Shikadai asked as he looked up at him, blinking in confusion before sighing. "I'm not an idiot! I'm a Nara but I look like you – so I guess aunt Hana was involved, right?" he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Kiba almost choked on his own saliva while Shikamaru opened round eyes – how could that child be so casual about this? "You've visibly thought about it," he commented once he got his voice back.

Shikadai shrugged in response. "Some things are obvious – like, when you _really_ smell so much like each other sometimes, I know that means you had sex," he added almost reproachfully – hey, if he had to sit through this moment of momentous embarrassment, then he was going to pay it back, got it?

Honestly, there was a reason he'd already asked his uncle Shino all about this, and it was exactly to avoid having this kind of conversation with his parents! And they'd gone and ruined that! Well, they were going to wish they _hadn't_.

If he had an evil laugh, like Chocho, he'd be laughing it right now – on the inside, of course.

Shikamaru resisted the urge to groan as he looked at Kiba with a frown, silently saying, 'what did I tell you about him smelling it?' while Kiba shook his head and shrugged, saying back, 'hey, we always knew that was gonna happen!'.

"Did you have sex with aunt Hana?" Shikadai then asked Shikamaru with an accusing frown.

"Of course not!" both adults replied hotly, sharing a look and a sigh at this. Inwardly, Shikadai was smirking in satisfaction – and that evil laugh was sounding more and more like a good idea.

"No, we used another method," Shikamaru replied more calmly. "We weren't even in the same _room_."

Shikadai sighed slightly in relief at this, because as gross as it was that adults had sex in the first place, he really didn't want to think that his parents did it with anyone but each other – that would be even grosser and way more uncool than anything in the world.

Kiba let out a fond huff at this as he reached to pat their son's head. "We wanted you so badly that it was okay to feel a bit embarrassed around her and Aoba for some time though!" he declared half-jokingly.

"Yeah, I know, Uncle Shino told me," the young Nara muttered as he tried to push his hand off – but found that difficult.

" _Uncle Shino_ , huh?" Kiba asked with a smile frozen in place as he leaned closer. "And what else did _Uncle Shino_ tell you?"

"Nothing," Shikadai replied as blankly as he could, silently cursing his slip of the tongue – and it had been going so well, too!

Kiba's nose twitched and he smirked slowly. "I smell a lie," he declared teasingly.

Behind him, Shikamaru sighed tiredly as he resolved to find a way to convey his annoyance to Shino. "Why did you ask _Shino_ about this instead of us?" he wondered – and really, why _Shino_? Of all people? Shino, the guy who still fixed him with a threatening glare every time they saw each other even though he and Kiba had been together for almost seventeen years!

"Because I knew he'd tell me the truth," Shikadai replied with a frown, blushing. "Sometimes with too many details," he admitted.

"Serves you right," Kiba noted with a wide grin as he sat back, ruffling his hair to annoy him.

Shikadai's frown deepened as he readjusted his hair. "You're my _parents_ – I can't ask you about what you do _with each other_!" he argued stubbornly.

Kiba and Shikamaru shared another look at this, having to concede he had a point – besides, the situation was actually really funny in a sense, they couldn't deny that. And maybe Shino had somewhat done them a favor, in the end.

Still, from that day on, every time Kiba was on the verge of losing an argument with his best friend, he told him, "Well you told my son about sex!", and just like that, Shino sighed and bowed his head, and it became a tie.

If there was one thing Kiba had taken from marrying into the Nara clan, it was how to look at every side of a situation to find a way it could be exploited to his advantage.

And he was _good_ at that.

* * *

 


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

Kiba rolled his eyes as he sat outside cleaning various kunai and shuriken – desperately trying to do it _quietly_! The children had watched a popular kid's show in the house the day before, and the stupid theme song had been stuck in head ever since, creeping back all the time. Shaking his head as he'd started humming it _again_ , he absently twirled the now clean kunai between his fingers as he smelled a familiar scent, turning with a frown. Shikadai was supposed to be training his Ino-Shika-Cho formation today, so what was he doing back so early? Setting his task aside, he walked to the door to wait for him, raising an eyebrow when the kid didn't even look guilty to have been caught.

"Did you skip training _again_?" Kiba asked with a frown as he crossed his arms over his chest, sighing at the shrug he received in response. "We told you to take it more seriously, didn't we? Man, Ino must be tearing Shikamaru a new one right now…" he muttered as he already dreaded the next time he'd meet her.

"He can handle it," Shikadai dismissed as he walked around him.

"Hey hey hey, where do you think you're going?" Kiba enquired with a raised eyebrow as he moved a hand to stop him.

"To my room," was the reply he received, in a tone that was so obviously _stating the obvious_.

Kiba sighed at that – honestly, could he be any _more_ like Shikamaru was at his age? "Hold on now. Seriously, you can't continue to ignore your training like this. What was it this time? Inojin was too pale?" Unfortunately, it wasn't unusual for their son to pick the most random excuses to get out of training.

"I just didn't feel like it. It's boring. And useless," Shikadai replied matter-of-factly with a long-suffering sigh. "We're not even at war. Who cares if we fight well together?"

"We weren't at war at your age either, pup," Kiba reminded him with a sigh. "And the world won't wait for you to grow up before throwing you its challenges. Teamwork can be the difference between life and death; you should never dismiss its value. Your formation is important," he insisted.

"Why do you even care? It's a _Nara_ thing, it's not like that's really important to you," Shikadai argued with a frown, decidedly in a confrontational mood.

Kiba resisted the urge to groan at that, because honestly, he couldn't deny the attitude was from _his_ side. "It's important because despite your rather flat opinion of the situation, one day it might save your life – am I allowed to care about _that_?" The only response he got was another shrug, and he shook his head. "You could also make an effort and watch your tone, I'm only your father," he added off-handedly, really hoping he behaved better with others – namely, poor Shino.

"No you're not…" Shikadai mumbled as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Kiba had been subjected to a fair number of punches and general beatings during his life, so was the lot of close combat fighters. But nothing, not ever, had hurt like this. He'd physically had to make himself remember how to breathe – and not in a good way like Shikamaru regularly caused him to. No, this was mind-blanking, stomach-churning, eye-widening physical shut-down. And in the middle of it all, there stood a contrary kid who started squirming as he really looked like he'd rather be anywhere but there.

"Go to your room," was all he was able to say once he'd found his voice again. He saw the boy open his mouth to say something but he wasn't ready to listen yet, so he pointed towards his bedroom. "Shikadai, I said 'go to your room'. _Now_."

It wasn't often that he grounded him, furthermore without the hint of a grin on his face, _and_ by using his full name, so perhaps it made his seriousness undisputable.

"And don't think you're exempt from training – practice your shadow's extension," he added sternly. Shikadai did as he was told, arguably being happy about being sent away, to a certain extent, and Kiba let out a slow breath as he watched him go.

So it had finally happened. He'd tried to stay positive and convince himself that their son would never say anything like this, but…wasn't it always going to happen at some point? He'd already had to deal with the typical 'you don't really love me' accusations when he'd refused snacks or an extended bedtime, first with Mirai, then with Kao and Shisen, and of course with Shikadai as well, but he'd always been able to laugh these off, because every kid said that – even some adults did!

But a reminder that he wasn't his father? Even if it was said in that same vein of childish tantrum, how was he supposed to _not_ let that break him down? Because underneath it all, that one was _true_ , in the strictest sense of the word.

Yes, he'd always advocated that parenthood was first and foremost about dedication, not genetics, as was evidenced by his own father. But children couldn't be expected to grasp that yet. Unfortunately and obviously however, it didn't mean that their words hurt any less. He'd always thought theirs was a happy family. Now, he wondered if maybe their son thought otherwise. Mostly, he wondered what he could do to fix it if that was really the case.

Akamaru whined at him and he absently reached to stroke his head. The faithful dog just nuzzled his chest, showing his support before growling softly.

"You're right, it's my turn to cook tonight," Kiba said absent-mindedly as he looked at the time – and since the training session had likely been cut short by his _adorable_ kid's absence, then Shikamaru would be along shortly. He wasn't sure how to tell him – _if_ he'd tell him. It would anger him, he knew that. Hurt him, too, because realistically a part of him would always be self-conscious about the circumstances of Shikadai's birth. Kiba hadn't really made up his mind yet by the time Akamaru barked and wagged his tail happily shortly before they heard the front door open.

"Shikadai?" Shikamaru called, tone annoyed.

"In his room," Kiba called back, keeping his eyes on his task. "Grounded. And normally practicing stretching his shadow," he informed him.

Shikamaru nodded before sighing as he walked to get himself a glass of water, leaning against the counter next to him. "I'm surprised you didn't get a clone to drag him back to the training grounds like the last time," he said jokingly before sobering up with a shudder. "Ino was in a _foul_ mood to begin with, and now Sai has a grudge against me because he figures it's my fault he's going to have it even worse tonight."

"Probably that time of the month," Kiba commented off-handedly before he could stop himself, chuckling. "The pup was in a defiant mood, so I preferred to ground him before he got anyone to forget it was a _practice_ session," he then added as casually as he could, figuring that wasn't exactly a lie, just a summary.

He couldn't really say: 'oh, and by the way, he said I'm not his father, so, yeah, he's grounded until he's at least thirty, which is good, because that way we can also keep him from dating, right?'

… _Could_ he?

"Honestly, I have half a mind to make him go apologize to Ino right now – it might teach him a thing or two about _consequences_ ," Shikamaru muttered as he looked at him. "Need any help?" he then offered as he gestured towards the food.

Kiba shook his head as though to dissipate his thoughts before offering him an easy grin. "Nah, I'm mostly done anyway – set the table, maybe?"

"Sure thing," Shikamaru replied easily as he leaned in to press a kiss to his lips before pushing himself off the counter and doing as asked. "Akamaru, could you go get Dai?" he asked the nin-dog with a smile.

Akamaru yapped an agreement and walked off towards the pup's room, raising a paw to lightly tap against the door – _lightly_ , because doors shouldn't be scratched, Mrs. Nara had made it a point to explain that to him along with an impressively graphic description of what might happen to him should he forget that simple fact. (The nin-dog wasn't ashamed to admit that had been one of the scariest moments of his life – battles included.)

"I'm not hungry," said a quiet voice from the other side.

Akamaru whined and simply moved to open the door, trotting inside and stopping by Shikadai's bed to nudge him with his snout.

"I said _I'm not hungry_ —go away, Akamaru," the boy insisted.

The nin-dog however wasn't about to give up, and he raised his front paws on the bed, gently turning him until they'd be face to face, upon which he licked his cheeks, tail wagging slowly as he tried to cheer him up.

Shikadai chuckled despite himself even as he half-heartedly tried to push him away and complained about the slobber and the dog-breath. "I have to go, right…?" he asked quietly as he fisted a hand in the soft fur. Akamaru's response was one last lick, so with a long-suffering sigh, Shikadai got up and went to the bathroom to wash his face before slowly going to the dining table, hiding behind Akamaru as much as he could. Stalling, he picked up the nin-dog's bowl from the counter and set it on the ground for him next to his chair before sitting down himself.

"You should really stop missing training, Dai, or you'll soon start falling behind – and in the long run, that'll also affect Chocho and Inojin, not just you," Shikamaru commented with a sigh as he set down a few dishes. "And you'll apologize to Ino and Chouji the next time you see them. To your friends as well, of course," he added sternly.

"Okay," the child mumbled as he kept looking down, not wanting another confrontation and wishing he were back in his bed.

Kiba joined them with the rest, absently noting that Shikadai had taken care of Akamaru's bowl and that he did look remorseful – which, horribly, made him feel both relieved and sad.

Shikamaru obviously noticed the somewhat tense atmosphere – it would have been difficult not to when Kiba didn't tease their kid once during dinner, and Shikadai didn't look up from his plate. This was further emphasized when Akamaru accompanied the boy to his room later on; while using Akamaru as a living plush had been common during his early years, as he grew up it was mostly when he was unhappy with something that he dragged the nin-dog along.

"So, want to tell me what really happened?" he asked Kiba once they were alone.

"I told you he was being feisty. We just had a little argument," Kiba maintained as he piled their plates.

"Kiba, come on…" Shikamaru insisted as he reached to grab his hand. "He couldn't look you in the eyes – he was close to tears. And I can recognize it when _you're_ hurt."

Kiba looked down with a frown before shaking his head. "Then I think you can guess what your son said to put us both in such a state," he sighed tiredly.

Shikamaru frowned at this, briefly looking towards Shikadai's bedroom. Children could blurt out the most off-handed and painful things, but Kiba had usually always been able to brush these off with a grin. So what had he said this time that neither could let go…?

And then he realized Kiba had said 'your' son, not 'our' as he usually did, and he shook his head, refusing to believe it. "He said _that_?" he asked quietly, not able to bring himself to even say it, frown deepening at Kiba's nod. "I'm going to talk to him," he said with a shake of his head as he stood up.

"No," Kiba quickly said seriously as he stopped him, reaching to grab his arms to keep him in place. "No, _I'll_ talk to him. After he's had time to cool down," he said decisively.

"But…okay…it's up to you," Shikamaru conceded as he saw his determined expression. "I'm sorry," he then said earnestly as he grabbed his face with his hands.

"Hey, it's no one's fault," Kiba dismissed with a soft smile as he moved his hands from his arms to his waist, pulling him closer. "Kids say hurtful things to their parents all the time!"

"You're an amazing father," Shikamaru insisted regardless against his lips. "And I'd be completely lost without you."

"That's mutual, but thank you," Kiba replied with a warm grin, letting out a breath and unwinding slightly for the first time since the argument. He could only hope that the night would be enough for Shikadai to mull it over on his side so they could put it behind them.

But there was one thing Shikamaru and Shikadai had in common above all else: he could never stay mad at them.

In the morning, the hurt was still there but he was able to brush it aside as he saw Shikadai's sorry state – he loved him too much to let a rift come between them, so he found himself grinning at him as usual. He was then however called in on an emergency in the middle of breakfast – which Shikamaru had managed not to burn, something that still happened one time out of three as he really wasn't a morning person. With a nod towards Akamaru, he leaned in to kiss Shikamaru, and then automatically moved to tap his forehead to Shikadai's.

"Don't skip training today, okay pup?" he said firmly, not failing to see the way his son's eyes widened.

Shikamaru watched them with a smile and pretended not to notice when the boy tried to camouflage a sniffle with a cough.

After all there was one thing he and Shikadai had in common above all else: how much they loved Kiba.

* * *

When Kiba got home that evening, later than usual, he was surprised to find Shikadai waiting for him by the door. "What are you doing outside at this hour?" he asked him with a raised eyebrow.

Shikadai shrugged as he looked away. "I…waited inside until I could smell you," he told him, chuckling as Akamaru promptly trotted over to lick his face.

"At what point did you?" Kiba asked in interest.

"Around Maen's house – I know because his pond smells moldy," was the child's response as he frowned. The use of potent smells around the village to pinpoint various locations was his own way of going around his limitations, a technique he'd developed and was rather proud of.

Kiba grinned proudly at this, reaching to pat his head. "That's a fair distance, you're getting better and better at this!" he praised him happily – besides, Maen's pond _did_ smell moldy, and he'd already told him as much, _repeatedly_ , which somehow hadn't exactly done wonders to improve their relationship.

Shikadai flushed happily at the approval but then frowned as he looked up at Kiba, looked at his usual warm grin, tried to find a trace of anger in him – and failed, miserably. Finally giving up with a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumped down. "Why aren't you angry at me?" he asked him point blank.

Kiba raised an eyebrow as he kneeled to look at him at eye-level. "Why do you think I should be angry at you?" he asked him back seriously.

The child sighed once more as he absently pulled on Akamaru to half-hide behind him. "Because I said something really bad to you…" he mumbled quietly after a long moment, the tip of his ears reddened and revealing his embarrassment.

"Yeah, you did…" Kiba agreed. "But you weren't completely wrong," he continued, noticing his son's eyes widen as he looked at him in confusion. "Was it hurtful? Yes, very much so. Am I disappointed? Yes, I can't deny that. But it wasn't entirely a lie." No, it was a half-truth he'd made the decision to live with, and it was the best damn thing he'd ever decided on.

"I still don't understand…why aren't you angry?" Shikadai asked him again, his arms' hold on Akamaru not letting up.

Inwardly, Kiba wondered how to best explain this to a child, but in the end, he knew that he should just be frank, as usual, and Shikadai was bright enough to keep it in a corner of his mind until he'd make sense of it on his own.

"I've always known that sooner or later, we'd have a conversation like this. I've been preparing myself for it since before you were even born," he began, thinking back on Hana's pregnancy. "The fact of the matter is, biologically speaking I'm not your father. No matter how much I wish it could be different, there's nothing I can do to change that. _But_ ," he quickly added, raising a finger to stop him before he could speak up his protests, "I decided the moment I first held you that I wasn't going to _let it_ bother me. You're my son, and that's _it_ ," he said resolutely as he reached to pinch his nose between two fingers.

Shikadai made a noise of protest as he swatted his hand away and fixed him with a reproachful frown, soon looking away at his grin. Eventually, he bit his lips and stepped around Akamaru closer to him. "I'm sorry, Dad. I really didn't mean it, you know," he admitted in a quiet voice, fighting to keep his eyes from watering as he felt a hand ruffle his hair affectionately.

"I know," Kiba replied as he pulled him against him, grin widening as Shikadai was at that age where accepting your parents' affection was uncool but sometimes _okay_ when no one was looking. And he'd be graduating in a couple of years, so he wasn't exactly a kid anymore, actually.

"It's not like I've never said some horrible things to my own parents!" he reasoned not-so-jokingly. And really, the worst part of becoming an adult was realizing that _they were right_ (damn it). "Just…don't say anything like that ever again," he asked him seriously.

"I won't," Shikadai quickly promised earnestly, tightening his hold on him.

"Good," Kiba replied happily. "Now try not to skip training for some time, okay? Unlike me, Shikamaru was really angry," he instructed with a fond sigh, grin widening as he felt him nod against him.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at him as they walked in, and Kiba simply grinned back, knowing the message would be understood. He found it so loveable that Shikamaru would get upset on his behalf…but he knew he'd been right not to let him have that talk with their son. There had been no doubts in his mind that Shikadai would come around on his own and they'd resolve this.

He wasn't half-bad at this parenting business after all, if he dared say so himself.

* * *

Shikadai groaned loudly as he let himself fall back in the grass, completely annoyed with his loss and sending his cousin a very peeved look to communicate said annoyance.

"You know it's normal for me to win when it's about taijutsu or scents – and not just because I'm older!" Shisen reminded him with a shrug, holding Kimaru above him and dropping him on his chest with a grin.

Shikadai let out another groan as the (thankfully) still small nin-dog stepped on his stomach, and he reached for him as he sat up. "I know," he replied sourly.

"They're your back-up skills – like sensing is mine!" he reasoned as he sat down next to him, absently readjusting his forehead protector around his head – but he wore it sideways, like his father. Ever since he'd graduated from the Academy, a few months back, it had been harder to just spend time together like this because newly promoted genin were kept busy, but he managed to make time anyway, something he really appreciated.

"I _know_ ," the Nara repeated, annoyed despite himself. "But I want to get better at it."

"Why?" Shisen wondered as he cocked his head to the side, imitated by his canine companion. "You're not supposed to go hand-to-hand in combat, unless things go completely wrong!" he needlessly reminded him.

" _I_ _know_!" Shikadai repeated for the third time, frowning at him before looking down and absent-mindedly scratching Kimaru's ears. "But it makes dad happy," he mumbled.

Shisen blinked, not needing more than a second to understand _which_ dad he meant. "Everything makes uncle Kiba happy!" he commented with a wide grin.

As he yet again couldn't argue against his logic, Shikadai sighed once more as he looked at him, eyes stopping on the clan markings on his cheeks. He wasn't an Inuzuka, so he couldn't get the same markings as his cousins that basically told the world who they were related to – but sometimes, he really wished he could. "Hey, Shisen…do you ever wish you were more like the Yamashiro? For uncle Aoba, I mean…" he asked him quietly.

Shisen let himself fall on his back at this, wrinkling his nose at the smell of freshly-cut grass as he thought about the question seriously. "Probing people's mind in fun, but I like fighting with Kimaru better," he replied after a moment, grinning as the nin-dog jumped to his chest in response. "And I'm not good with precise chakra control, like you are – mom tried to teach me some basic medical ninjutsu, but that was a complete failure!" he huffed before turning back to him. "There're only a handful of prodigies around the world who're annoyingly good at everything, and neither of us qualifies – not even Kao does!"

Shisen may have been competitive like most Inuzukas, but more than that he had a huge sister complex and held her as his shinobi goal.

Shikadai chuckled at this, liking his 'to the point' view as usual.

The genin suddenly sat up, barely startling Kimaru as he simply jumped back into Shikadai's lap. "But that's okay, yeah? Because I'm an Inuzuka who can pick brains if there's no one else around to do it, and you're a Nara who can use his nose! I'd say that's pretty cool!" he finished with a proud grin, reaching to rub Kimaru's back as he barked supportively.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool…" Shikadai was forced to admit. Besides, that was the whole reason they were put into teams, right? To balance each other. And he was luckier than most, because he'd been training with _his_ team his entire life. But still… "One last time?" he asked his cousin with perfectly faked disinterest.

Shisen grinned widely and jumped to his feet, resting his hands on his hips. "Sure, but don't start crying when I win again!"

As if Shikadai would ever give him the satisfaction!

So after he lost yet another bout of taijutsu sparring, he challenged his cousin to a ninjutsu battle, and very happily captured him with his own shadow to make him eat those words.

Ah, family…nothing like it!

* * *

The annual Kages' meeting was coming to Konoha that year, and to the children, simply put, it was awesome. Because during that day, their parents would be so busy they'd have no time to breathe down their necks, and school and training would be cancelled!

Or at least that's what they'd thought.

"They really _do_ cancel school and training in Kumo when the Kages meet up, my mom said so!" Chocho assured them as they sulked at her for getting their hopes up before they came crashing down.

"Lucky them," Shikadai grumbled as he burrowed his nose deeper between his arms and waited for their professor to start his classes.

"Maybe we'll at least get out early?" Inojin ventured, ever the optimist. And he'd been proven right, too, when Shino let them go a full hour ahead of schedule. "We can meet our parents for training early!" he offered with a smile.

Shikadai frowned at him and shook his head. "My parents won't even be there, so it's useless!" he insisted before making his own way out. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed Professor Anko making a sign at Chocho and his friend immediately following her happily – meaning Inojin would likely head to the training grounds on his own.

Anko used to be one of the most feared kunoichi of Konoha, he'd heard, but she was a cheerful teacher now – she'd obviously found her true calling. He knew that she was his father's predecessor as the Allied Division HQ's commander, and that after she'd quit a few years back he'd been voted into her position – where he'd been awesome ever since, Shikadai thought modestly.

Actually, just a couple of months earlier, the Allied Division had also hosted a meeting, between the commanders of all five HQs. It had been funny – and strange – because his father had been almost nervous the last few days leading up to it, but of course he didn't need to worry and it went well!

He knew that as the Hokage's assistant, Shikamaru would be too busy with last minute preparations for the meeting to have time for training, and as commander of the Allied division HQ, so would Kiba because the HQ's units usually helped with security during big inter-village events.

But he made his way there anyway because the division was always full of shinobi from other villages stopping by and he loved hearing their stories. He hadn't told his parents, because he knew they'd worry, but once he'd be a bit older (and a chuunin, since that was mandatory), he definitely planned on joining the Allied division and transferring to another village, just to experience life differently for some time.

His nose picked up his father's and his nin-dog's scents quite quickly, and as he got closer to the building, he also noted other familiar scents – he didn't smell them often enough to put a name to them right away, but he knew he knew these people well. And indeed, as he made his way towards his father's office – with quite a few shinobis patting his back and greeting him on the way – he grinned happily upon seeing Gaara and Kankuro there.

"Hello Shikadai," the Kazekage greeted with a small smile as he motioned that it was okay for him to come in.

"Hey, if it isn't the little guy!" the puppeteer said happily as he gently tapped his shoulders.

Shikadai bit back his grin as he grumbled that he wasn't that little, and he was still growing anyway. But a look towards his father's raised eyebrow made him pause.

"Didn't you have training today?" Kiba asked him although they both perfectly well knew the answer to that question.

"But I knew you'd both be busy with work, so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal," he tried to defend himself.

Kankuro laughed at this, moving to sling an arm over Kiba's shoulder. "Aw, look at the little guy – he came to see you anyway, right? How sweet is that?"

Oh yes, discovery of the decade: children possessed the innate power of wrapping Kankuro of the Hidden Sand around their little finger without even trying. (Not that Shikadai didn't actively try – criminal mastermind that he was.) He didn't get to say more though as Gaara stood from his seat.

"You're not leaving because of me, are you?" Shikadai asked with a frown despite himself.

"Of course not," Gaara replied simply, giving him a reassuring look. "It's just time for us to make our way to the meeting room."

"We're having lunch at your house tomorrow though, so we'll meet again!" Kankuro cheered up the kid as he saw the beginning of a pout on his face.

Shikadai brightened up but forced himself to tone it down because over-eagerness was uncool – particularly in front of a Kage. "Okay."

"Come on," Kiba said indulgingly as he gently pushed him along. "Let's escort the Kazekage out."

Once they were outside, still on the HQ's steps, Kankuro frowned as he looked up at the cliff overlooking the village. "Um…Kiba? Were the faces painted up on purpose?" he asked his friend with a raised eyebrow.

Kiba followed his look and burst out laughing as he saw the state the Hokages' monument was in. His nose easily told him who was behind _that_ , and he resisted the urge to slap a palm to his forehead. "I'm going to go with 'no' – and the Hokage might be a little late to your meeting, sorry about that!" he added towards Gaara.

And he wondered how Naruto was going to go about scolding Boruto for _that_ , since it was a well-known fact he'd painted the Hokages' faces as well when he was a kid. Seriously, what were the sentries _doing_ , letting a _kid_ paint over these respected tributes on more than one occasion?

Well, at least, he figured that even if his own son regularly skipped his training, he didn't go around vandalizing their monuments so he shouldn't complain too much. (Although those lips painted on Kakashi's statue really added some character to it! He really hoped someone had snapped a picture, because if he didn't have his position as commander to consider, he'd be _posing_ for one right now!)

Kankuro straightened up as Gaara nodded at them and they made their way towards the tower, confident the Hokage wouldn't be delayed for too long.

As he and Shikadai walked back inside, Kiba clucked his tongue as he checked the time. "Dai, I've still got more work to do. You can stay here if you want, just don't—"

"Keep anyone busy – I know, Dad," Shikadai finished easily around a yawn, pretending to be annoyed at the hand that moved to pat his head. They both knew where he was going to go wait anyway; it was always the same place.

With the medical ninjutsu unit.

The captain in charge barely looked up as he walked in, and then wordlessly returned to his brewing. "Dai," he said simply by way of greeting once he sat down next to him.

"Hey Izo. What are you doing this time?" he asked him quietly as he took tentative sniffs of the different ingredients laid out.

"Easy on the smelling – some of these could knock you out," Izo warned as he reached to pinch his nose without even turning his head to him – and most likely acting more ominously than was needed, knowing him. "I'm striving to improve my pain medicine."

Shikadai nodded as he pulled his shirt's collar up and burrowed his nose into it – truth be told, he was looking forward to having his forehead protector, so he could just wrap it around his neck and have something handy all the time to block other smells. "But it's already the best in the Alliance, dad says so, so what're you working on?" he asked innocuously, inwardly smirking at his pleased expression.

Generally speaking, people had always agreed that his grandfather, Shikaku Nara, had been a genius who could instantly see the big picture. And that his father, Shikamaru Nara, was a genius who thought dozens of move in advance.

Well, Shikadai Nara's genius resided in his ability to immediately understand people and know how to butter them up or on the contrary rile them up – control your opponent and you'll control the battle, after all, right?

Izo was from Iwa, and usually didn't speak much unless it was to discuss anything medical, but Shikadai actually liked that in a person – no time wasted on platitudes. Besides, he always showed him interesting things and even let him watch when he healed people unless they were on death's door – claiming that 'your father would _bite_ me if I let you see something like that', with a most serious expression. (Honestly, Shikadai sort-of liked that people were afraid of his dad.)

"This isn't the kind of pain medicine I'd give the wounded who're brought to me while I heal them," Izo explained patiently as he continued his work. "This is for the battlefield. To keep someone fighting – or healing – even as they're falling apart."

Shikadai frowned at this, blinking in confusion. "But that would be dangerous, wouldn't it?"

"Depending on the severity of the wounds, yes – it might even be fatal," the medic-nin agreed. "But sometimes? It can save lives." The look on his face made it obvious he'd already been in such situations. "Sometimes it's obvious that a wound is fatal – but compared to just waiting it out, the alternative might be better."

"Which aspect are you trying to improve?" the Nara wondered after he'd thought about it – and he really hoped he'd never be in a situation where he'd need to make a choice like that.

"The balance between how quickly it's effective versus how long it'll last," was the calm reply. "Even an extra second can make all the difference with lives on the line."

Shikadai nodded as he watched him work quietly. At one point, he was interrupted by a shinobi who'd received a kunai injury, and the young Nara watched with raptured attention as he rapidly and efficiently treated his wound. He could tell the man had been poisoned because he could smell it, but Izo had just needed a second's look to realize, and he really admired him for that – because from where he stood, the wound hadn't looked any different.

Looking back on such moments years later, he knew that was when he'd decided his specialty as a shinobi would be medical ninjutsu.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it can't be perfect all the time, can it? Children can be so mean in their blunt way...  
> Not sure when the idea of making Shikadai a medic-nin popped up, but now I can't imagine him as anything else! :)  
> In the final epilogue chapter, I plan on focusing more on the new Ino-Shika-Cho trio!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is the final epilogue. I hope you'll enjoy it, and thank you for sticking with me until the end! :)

 

* * *

According to their parents and their teachers, the Shinobi World was 'at peace'. That meant horrible stuff didn't happen so often anymore. It also meant people didn't have to _fight_ so often anymore, and the Kages didn't leave their villages to fight other villages so much anymore.

Or something.

So of course, when word got around that the Seventh Hokage had left the village and teamed up with the famous Sasuke Uchiha to fight a mysterious enemy, everyone in Konoha knew about it in a matter of minutes.

And as a prime witness in all that, Chocho was all too happy to share the entire, exclusive, and truthful Story of It with her best friends.

Inojin frowned as he looked at her as though she was crazy once her tale was finished. "Why would you even think that your parents aren't your parents? That's just plain stupid!" he declared, clearly shocked by the idea. "And you were even put in danger!" he then added reproachfully.

Chocho sighed as she rolled her eyes at his usual worrying, holding out her potato chips bag in turn as a peace offering. "It doesn't matter why – I went on an _adventure_!" she insisted, because he'd clearly missed her point. "The Seventh and Sarada's dad are so super strong, it was really impressive!" she then added, completely star-struck.

"So are our parents," Shikadai replied defensively although he did his best to look bored so she didn't think she had the upper hand.

"The Seventh beat your dad with a _fart_ when they were genins," she reminded him matter-of-factly, chuckling at the thought.

"Hey you have no idea what it's like to smell things that strongly! You'd have just fainted on the spot!" Shikadai snapped back, eyes narrowed as _no one_ was allowed to make fun of his dad(s) – that was _his_ privilege after all.

Inojin sighed as he moved to stand between them, ever the peacekeeper. "Come on you two…there's no need to start fighting each other for something that happened way before we were even born," he said patiently before looking up as a shadow fell over them. "Oh, hello Professor Shino!" he greeted easily, relieved that he wouldn't be alone in case his friends once more decided to start bickering more seriously.

"Inojin. Shikadai. Chocho," the Aburame greeted in turn, looking around for their parents but not seeing them. "Are you on your own?"

"We're training alone today," Chocho informed him, feeling torn between doing the polite thing and offering him some chips, and _not_ , because what if a bug fell in the bag? Huh? Then they couldn't eat it anymore! Totally uncool!

Shino raised an eyebrow at them, although it went unnoticed behind his large visor. From where he stood, they only seemed to be chit-chatting around a bag of chips – or several, most likely. But after all, they were at peace, and children were allowed to simply be children at times. Soon, they'd become genin, and then free idle time would be harder to come by, so they were right to enjoy it while they could. And it also implied that soon, he'd start over with a new class at the academy.

It made him feel so old. Proud too, of course, but mostly old.

"Professor, do you know Sarada's dad?" Chocho asked him excitedly, snapping him out of his glum thoughts about being old.

Shikadai rolled his eyes at this – who cared about Sarada's dad? He was never there anyway – and how could a guy who didn't even recognize his own daughter be so cool?

"Hmm. Why do you ask?" Shino wondered with a frown.

"Because he's sooo amazing, but when I asked my parents about him, Dad said he didn't really know him, and Mom just told me to 'stop talking about that asshole'," the Akimichi replied with a scowl. "So I know he once left the village and all, but he's been helping since the war, so why would she still call him an asshole?"

Shino inwardly cringed at her words – although he'd long ago realized that Karui didn't mind her language in front of _anyone_ , so it was logical that her daughter would pick up on that. Poor Chouji. "Well, I cannot recall having ever held a conversation with him, so I cannot say I know him either," he replied truthfully, not commenting on Karui's opinion. "Aside from Sakura, obviously, the ones who know him best are the Sixth, the Seventh, and perhaps your mother, Inojin." After all, she'd carried quite the torch back in the days, even if she now resented him for not remaining by Sakura and Sarada's sides.

"Aww…can't you tell us _anything_?" Chocho asked with a disappointed pout. "Like a secret mission, or a funny story, or anything at all?"

A funny story involving Sasuke? Was there ever one, Shino wondered. Maybe a D-rank or two that team 7 had undertaken in their early days could qualify, but he had no idea, he'd been a part of team 8 after all. A secret mission however…

Shino frowned as he remembered the bitterness of being left out. "Well…after Sasuke first left, a small unit led by Shikamaru was dispatched to bring him back, but shinobi of the Hidden Sound ran interference. Eventually, even with support from the Hidden Sand, the mission was a failure, with several of Konoha's shinobi returning severely wounded – notably Chouji and Kiba," he informed them.

"That's not a funny story!" Chocho accused him with a horrified expression.

Inojin winced as he looked at his two friends worriedly, frowning at their shocked faces. "You're not a very good storyteller, Professor…" he told their teacher reproachfully.

"So it would seem," Shino admitted with a sigh. Indeed, there were likely better ways to tell a story to some children than telling them their parents had almost died.

"So were you on that mission too?" Chocho asked him with a frown. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"I was not included in that mission," Shino replied succinctly, frowning severely.

"Dai, let's go ask your parents!" the Akimichi promptly declared as she grabbed their hands and pulled them along towards the Nara clan grounds without waiting for an answer.

"Bye Professor Shino!" Inojin called back dutifully.

Shino just sighed deeply.

That mission would always throw him back into solitude, wouldn't it?

* * *

Shikamaru sighed contentedly as he tightened his hold on Kiba, smiling lazily as his lover nuzzled his neck. "Please don't let me wait that long before taking a day off again," he muttered as he kissed the side of his head.

"Hey, I try, but sometimes you've got a one-track mind about work!" Kiba reminded him good-naturedly. "I remember the good old days, back when we were young and you could barely keep your hands off of me…!" he added in a fake wistful tone, grin widening as he felt him laugh.

"Nostalgia really doesn't suit you, Kiba," the shadow-nin informed him as he turned them over so he'd be on top of him. "Besides, it was easier when we didn't need to worry about our kid catching us in the act…" he noted against his lips.

Kiba naturally couldn't contradict him on that one, and so simply responded to his kiss, enjoying their free time. Of course Akamaru barked at this point, and he pulled back with a frown as he sniffed the air a few times.

"He's already coming back?" Shikamaru sighed at the other's look.

"Yup. With Inojin and Chocho in tow!" the tracker told him before regretfully pushing him off of him. "Akamaru will stall them long enough for us to take a shower," he noted, really grateful for his canine companion – and feeling really compassionate for their friends who didn't have the added help.

Thanks to Akamaru, by the time the children let themselves in Shikamaru and Kiba were innocently seated on the patio. Of course, because of his nose Shikadai knew why the nin-dog had held them up, but he didn't comment on it, just blushed and resolutely avoided their eyes as he headed towards the kitchen.

"Good afternoon," Inojin said politely as usual. "Sorry for intruding."

"Aww, you know you're always welcome," Kiba reminded him sincerely as he reached to ruffle his hair, grinning as the boy instantly brightened up happily but moved to put his hair back into place.

"Uncle Kiba, Uncle Shikamaru! We want you to tell us about that mission where you went to get Sarada's dad!" Chocho asked them without preamble as she sat down in front of them, a girl on a mission. "Pretty please?"

"Where'd you even hear about that?" Kiba wondered with a frown, sharing a surprised look with his husband.

"From Uncle Shino," Shikadai replied summarily as he returned from the fridge with juice boxes for his friends.

Kiba fondly rolled his eyes despite himself, figuring his best friend had likely also commented on how he'd been left out – never mind that he'd been reminding him for years that he wasn't even _in_ the damned village when that happened, so it's not like they didn't think of him, he just _. Wasn't. Freaking. THERE!_

"Why were you talking about this?" he asked instead of following and voicing his trail of thoughts.

Shikadai rolled his eyes as he sat back against Akamaru, noisily slurping his juice. "Chocho has a crush on Sarada's awesome-super-dad," he deadpanned.

"Hey!" Chocho protested with a blush as she mentally decided not to offer him any chips for at least two days in retaliation. (At _least_.) "I do _not_!"

"Ah, a result of your little adventure from the other day, I take it?" Shikamaru asked knowingly, amused at the situation despite how much hearing someone refer to Sasuke as 'awesome-super-dad' made him wince – call him old-fashioned, but he felt 'awesome-super-dads' should _stay_ with their kids, or at the very least just _know_ them.

"Mom says he's an asshole and I shouldn't care about him," Chocho relayed with a pout as she opened her juice, not noticing their shared exasperated looks. "But he's Sarada's dad so…if you can tell me more about him, I can tell _her_ once he's gone, it'll cheer her up!" she then said energetically.

Kiba grinned fondly at her at this – clearly, despite having inherited her mother's foul mouth, she also had her father's kind heart. "Chocho, I'd love to tell you a nice tale to share with Sarada, but the truth is I personally don't have any fun stories about Sasuke," he admitted. It was rather the opposite, honestly.

Okay, so, fairly, Sasuke did majorly help them win the war – but the kids already knew that one! They were asking for a 'funny' or 'nice' story, and he was stumped on _that_.

Back when they were kids, Sasuke usually played with the other children of the Uchiha clan, they'd never seen him at the park. And then at the Academy, the Uchiha had kept to himself, focusing on acing every test. Of course, looking back on it now they could also clearly see the change that had happened after his clan had been decimated. It was even worse once he'd graduated, and by that time the only people they ever saw were their own teams anyway. And then he left. That really didn't give them many opportunities to have _fun_ together…

"Nothing? Not even _one_?" Inojin asked with a frown, figuring it would be too sad otherwise – in more ways than one.

Shikamaru chuckled at his dismayed look, thinking back real hard. "Well, I suppose there _was_ that time when Naruto accidentally kissed him," he remembered.

"Hey, that _was_ pretty funny!" Kiba admitted as he'd forgotten all about it.

"They kissed?" Chocho repeated with round eyes. "Like you two?"

"No, of course not!" Kiba replied with a frown. "We love each other! It's different when we kiss!" he insisted as he reached to pinch her nose, grinning as she giggled and pushed his hand away.

"The way I remember it, they were goofing around, and someone pushed Naruto, who then fell on Sasuke lips first," Shikamaru relayed as he stroked his chin – he'd mostly heard the commotion afterwards, he'd been napping after all.

Shikadai snorted at this, sharing the last of his juice with Akamaru. The two greatest shinobi of the village hadn't even been able to avoid a surprise kiss? Not really impressive…

Inojin, for his part, silently finished his drink as he thought about this new information. "I think it _is_ a pretty funny story. Sarada should like it – she can even use it to embarrass the Seventh and Boruto!" he finally declared as he was done thinking it over.

The adults exchanged weary looks at this – Sai's calmness combined with Ino's mastermind planning made for an explosively dangerous mix at times.

Chocho grinned and clapped her friend's shoulder conspiringly. "Definitely, you genius, you!" she agreed before thinking about something else with a frown. "But so…what about that mission? Professor Shino said you and my dad were really hurt…" she asked Kiba worriedly.

Shikamaru tsked at this – despite being a teacher, sometimes Shino really had no notion of what kind of information to give children.

And well…he'd never liked thinking about that mission. For starters, it reminded him of Neji and they'd always miss him. Then, he still blamed himself for being the least injured of the group despite being the leader. Finally, they'd risked their lives to bring a fellow Konoha shinobi back when he ran away to join their enemy and clearly did not want their help.

"Well, we survived, it's all that matters!" Kiba insisted with a comforting grin. Personally he didn't mind telling the story, but perhaps their parents wouldn't want him to. "The other important part is that your dad absolutely kicked butt!" he assured Chocho. "He literally flattened this total monster from the Sound! And you have a lot to look forward to in terms of training, because the Akimichi clan is full of surprises!" he added with a wink.

"I know!" she replied proudly, completely pepped up.

"Were my parents on this mission with you?" Inojin asked curiously.

"No, we didn't even know your father yet at the time," Shikamaru replied, smiling as he looked disappointed. Ino hadn't been strong enough back then, not to mention that like Sakura, she'd been too attached to Sasuke. "I led the unit, which included Kiba, Chouji, Naruto, Hinata's cousin Neji, and eventually Lee as well – and Akamaru of course!" he added as the dog barked in response.

"Did you absolutely kick butt too?" Chocho asked excitedly.

The two shared a look at this before sighing. "Not really. Our opponents were exceptionally strong," Shikamaru admitted.

Shikadai frowned at this, not liking to think his parents had lost – sure, he realized it had probably _happened_ (once or twice, _tops_ ), but that didn't mean he liked to _think_ about it.

"My opponent was a long-distance fighter, and her chakra reserves were enormous – eventually I wasn't able to bind her anymore," Shikamaru explained with a sigh.

"And mine was actually two brothers who could fuse together, or fuse into other people's bodies. I almost died expelling him," Kiba informed them as he pulled up his shirt slightly to show the old faded scar on his right side, grinning slightly as it seemed to ground home the fact that shinobi really risked their lives in their minds.

On his side, Shikadai absently tightened his hand in Akamaru's fur. He'd already seen that scar, but he hadn't known which mission it was from. "So what happened then?" he asked quietly.

Kiba sighed with a helpless shrug. "The Sand Siblings came to the rescue! They protected us, killed the bad guys, saved the day, shone with their superiority, and still remind us of it to this day!" he said mock-dramatically. "I mean, not Gaara, of course – but Temari and Kankuro have gloated enough for three over the years!"

"But how come you were on that mission together?" Inojin asked curiously, tilting his head to the side. "I thought it was routine in Konoha to keep married couples or family members from being assigned to the same unit?"

Shikamaru and Kiba couldn't help but chuckle fondly at this. "We weren't married back then – we weren't even together," the shadow-nin replied in amusement. "This was a long time ago; I'd barely been promoted to chuunin, while Kiba and the others were still genin."

"But after that I first started feeling attracted to him," Kiba informed them with a grin.

"You did?" Shikamaru and Chocho asked at the same time, the first in surprise and the second in eagerness.

Shikadai frowned from his spot – they'd always told him they fell in love in Suna, so where did this come from?

"You never told me," Shikamaru noted with a raised eyebrow.

"You never asked," Kiba replied easily before turning back to Chocho. "Anyway. That wasn't my first mission with Shikamaru, but it was the first under his leadership; it showed me how reliable he could really be. I was impressed! And I actually told you that – that I think you're a good leader and looked forward to working under you again," he reminded his husband as he turned to him. "When you visited me at the hospital?"

"Right…" Shikamaru remembered with a small smile. If only he'd paid more attention back then…!

"So you actually got together thanks to Sarada's dad running away!" Chocho summarized.

"What? No!" Kiba let out in a strangled squeak as Shikamaru grimaced next to him. "Absolutely not! We got together because we spent time together in Suna – that was _years_ later, after the war!" he insisted as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Aww," the Akimichi pouted in disappointment. "So there's really nothing good about Sarada's dad in this story…" she noted dejectedly.

"You know, if you ask the Sixth, and tell him _why_ you're asking, I'm sure he'll be willing to share nicer stories with you," Shikamaru encouraged her gently. He had no doubts that Kakashi would even be happy to – he often lamented that retirement was boring and claimed that if it weren't for the unmissable giant carving of his face up the side of the cliff, people would all but forget about him.

Chocho seemed satisfied with this suggestion, while Inojin was already mentally planning to ask his father how they could meet the Sixth. Shikadai for his part wasn't really interested, even if he had to admit that it was nice of Chocho to want to cheer up Sarada – and if this turned into a team-thing, then of course he'd tag along.

But he'd always felt the slightest bit self-conscious around Sarada, because she was always so desperately chasing after her father, while he himself had two.

And not to brag, but it really wasn't hard to find a happy or funny story about either of them.

* * *

When the time finally came for their children to graduate from the academy, everyone found themselves falling prey to nerves – even those who knew for a fact that their kids had the necessary skills to pass the graduation test! Which, that year, had apparently been a permutation exercise, as Chocho excitedly informed them as she stormed out of the academy with a forehead protector proudly displayed in her hand, not resisting as Chouji pulled her into his arms.

"Why is it always alphabetical? Couldn't they go in reverse for once in their lives?" Ino lamented as she glared at the door – as a Yamanaka, she'd suffered being among the last on roll-call her whole life after all. "I'm going to _hurt_ Shino!" she then vowed seriously.

"No you won't," Shikamaru noted good-naturedly as he pat her shoulder while Kiba cheerfully praised Chocho.

"Sure, _you_ don't care, Nara's in the middle no matter the order…" she muttered, leaning into Sai's side as he discreetly tried to soothe her.

Not far off, Naruto and Sakura shared a pained look – yeah, Uzumaki and Uchiha were pretty far down on the list, too. Hinata didn't seem overly fazed however as she watched Himawari happily cling to Akamaru's back as he moved around the playground. (Still, she was discreetly using her byakugan to make sure her son wasn't busy getting himself into trouble.)

More children came out, some shouting happily, some on the verge of tears, some angry, until finally Kiba perked up and grabbed Shikamaru's arm nervously. "It's him!"

True to himself, the young Nara leisurely strolled out, hands stuffed in his pockets, and clearly insensitive to his parents' anticipation. Shikamaru opened his mouth to ask him but Chocho beat him to it.

"You got it, right?" she asked with a smug grin.

Shikadai frowned at her, pulling a hand out of his pocket with a forehead protector in it. "Of course! You'd have been way too annoying otherwise!" he teased her with a smirk before protesting as Kiba crushed him to his chest happily. "Dad! Let go!" he complained, beet-red, until Kiba finally relented. Akamaru then trotted over to lick his face and he used the nin-dog as an additional shield.

Shikamaru chuckled at their antics as he reached to fondly smooth down his hair. "We're proud of you, Dai," he said simply, grin widening as the child looked away self-consciously, pleased by the praise despite himself.

"How's Inojin? Is he okay? Not too stressed?" Ino asked him worriedly after having congratulated him.

"Of course he's okay," Shikadai replied with a frown. "He could do this in his sleep!" he added matter-of-factly, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

Sai nodded his approval at this, once more reaching for Ino to calm her down – and keep her from walking in to demand that the alphabetical order be shuffled.

When Sarada walked out and jumped into her mother's arms proudly, Naruto and Ino's patience was running thin. It wasn't long before they heard a loud banging sound coming from the inside and Ino narrowed her eyes at the blond shinobi. "If your kid causes my kid's exam to be delayed, I will _end_ you, Naruto, Hokage or not," she warned him very seriously.

Naruto could only gulp and nod, and when Boruto rushed out barely a minute later, it was all but forgotten. Himawari was by her brother's side in an instant, asking to see his forehead protector and teasing that it would look better on her.

"Come on – Yamanaka, Yamanaka, _Yamanaka_!" Ino chanted, keeping her eyes glued to the door, letting out a very loud 'YES!' as Inojin finally stepped out, looking visibly pleased, docilely letting her pull him and hold on tight. Sai was only marginally more reserved.

"Why are we celebrating, it's not even final yet…" Shikadai reminded everyone with a sigh, hating to be a center of attention like this.

"First rule of life when you grow up, kid: celebrations aren't _for_ you even when they're _about_ you; they're for the people around you," Karui imparted with much wisdom – and she should know: she hated festivities herself, but damned if she wasn't going to celebrate her daughter graduating!

He looked up at her with a frown, trying to determine if she was being serious, and finally gave up. Looking at their parents' happy faces though, he had to admit that maybe she was on to something.

* * *

"Please behave for a moment longer," Shino demanded of his class as he held up a clipboard. "Before you can continue your training, I must inform you of your new teams, as well as the name of the jounin teacher who will be in charge of you from this day onward."

Most students either immediately quieted down anxiously or continued talking with their best friends, hoping they'd get to join the same team, keeping their fingers crossed or holding hands – as if such gestures could in any way sway their teacher into shuffling the teams he'd taken a long time to painstakingly arrange as evenly as possible.

"What's with the suspense, we already know who we're teaming up with," Shikadai muttered as he crossed his arms on the desk and leaned his chin on them.

"The others don't; this is for their benefit," Inojin reminded him quietly.

"Team 3," Shino called clearly, looking up at them, "Inojin Yamanaka, Shikadai Nara, and Chocho Akimichi, under Moegi Nishino."

"Wow, big surprise," the Nara added around a yawn. "Team Ino-Shika-Cho – never saw it coming!"

Inojin chuckled but didn't chastise him this time.

"Moegi…Moegi…Mo-e-gi…" Chocho tested as she looked up. "That's a girl's name, isn't it?"

"Does it matter?" Shikadai asked with a shrug.

"I don't think it does," Inojin replied as he thought about it.

Chocho eyed them both critically before sighing in disappointment. "Sure, the two of wouldn't know how a lady feels – but I'd like to have company! Someone who'll understand me!"

Inojin blinked in confusion at this. "I always got the feeling we understand each other rather well though," he reasoned matter-of-factly.

Shikadai chuckled and reached to punch his shoulder fondly at this – even Chocho couldn't deny that as she tried to hide a smile. To be honest, neither of them was looking forward to having their team's dynamics intruded upon and inevitably changed. But it wasn't like it could be helped, right?

Shino continued with his list, and then a few jounin started showing up.

When Moegi Nishino stopped in front of them, the boys shared a look and Chocho grinned happily as the kunoichi introduced herself.

Well, at least the team would be balanced.

* * *

"This is annoying," Shikadai complained for the umpteenth time as they waited for his jounin commander to show up. Really, so far, mostly everything in regards to graduating from the academy had been annoying.

"Don't you agree it's important for us to at least meet the person who's going to be in charge of you from now on?" Shikamaru asked him with a raised eyebrow, thinking back on his own lack of enthusiasm the first time he'd met Asuma.

"You already know her…" the kid muttered as he leaned back against Akamaru – his only true supporter in this house, really! The nin-dog promptly wagged his tail loyally at this.

"Only in passing, so stop whining, pup!" Kiba said good-naturedly before looking up as his nose twitched. "Well, there's a new scent coming up, so I guess she's here," he noted as he stood a few minutes later to meet their guest at the door, coming back with the pigtail-haired kunoichi in tow.

"Good afternoon, Shikadai," Moegi greeted her future student with a grin.

Shikadai only grumbled a response and Shikamaru sighed as he shrugged his head to side with a pointed look. "Hello Professor Moegi," he grudgingly replied properly.

She visibly wasn't fazed by his lack of enthusiasm as she shook Shikamaru's hand and sat down. "Naturally, the Academy has already given me his file, but I do think it's best to discuss his abilities with you as well, since you were mainly the one to train him until now," she started, looking at them both but then turning to Shikamaru.

"Kiba handles mostly anything that isn't Nara clan shadow techniques," Shikamaru informed her casually before she could start interrogating him.

Moegi hummed as she looked down at his grades. "Ah, that would explain the higher than average taijutsu marks for a long-distance fighter," she noted.

"He's also been training me to smell things," Shikadai added, not liking it when people overlooked his Inuzuka roots.

"Really?" she asked, surprised as this wasn't mentioned in his file.

"Well he can't track someone down over great distances if you give him a sample," Kiba tempered as he placed a hand on his shoulder fondly. "But I've taught him to keep track of his surroundings for surprise attacks or traps, and he can actually find Chocho and Inojin if they get separated."

"How far?" she inquired interestedly.

"We've played hide and seek all over the village – and even the surrounding forest!" Kiba replied proudly.

"That's easy when I know what the different places smell like," Shikadai argued with a frown before looking up at him as he thought about something else. "Will I have to learn Professor Moegi's scent as well?"

"At the very least, you'll have to be able to recognize her as friendly," Kiba replied seriously.

Moegi noted something down at this, finding this information very useful – and, she had to admit, impressive. "What about Nara clan techniques?" she then asked Shikamaru.

"He's close to mastering the basic hold, and we've loosely started working on the shadow hand's theoretical aspect," Shikamaru replied. "As far as teamwork goes, I'm sure you'll find he's already quite comfortable working with Chocho and Inojin."

"Yes, her parents told me as much, although I do plan on running them through a little test to see that for myself – assuming you don't have any objections, naturally," Moegi added, looking at them in turn.

"Of course not! Kurenai ran us ragged until we didn't have a drop of chakra left and couldn't feel our limbs anymore – remember that, Akamaru?" Kiba asked his nin-dog with a grin, to which he replied with a whine.

"Can I skip it?" Shikadai muttered, not looking forward to the prospect.

"No," Shikamaru simply replied without even looking at him.

Akamaru, as always his most loyal companion, reached to lick his cheek encouragingly and Shikadai grinned slightly.

"Alright then – anything else I should know?" the kunoichi wondered curiously.

The parents shared a look at this. "He's not…the most enthusiastic of kids – give him a choice and he'll go for a nap every time," Shikamaru forewarned.

Shikadai simply rolled his eyes at them. Wasn't it obvious that given a choice, _anyone_ would rather take a nap?

Grown-ups…

Akamaru nudged him and he cocked his head to the side at this, sniffing the air a few times. "Dad, can I go now?" he asked Kiba.

Shikamaru sighed but Kiba chuckled as he used his nose and understood his sudden urge to leave. "Okay – be back in time for dinner though."

"Yeah, yeah…" the boy muttered as he stood, pausing as his name was called expectantly. "Bye, Professor Moegi," he said with a long-suffering sigh before leaving.

"Chocho's on her way, probably to talk about your visit," Kiba informed them with a grin. "I wouldn't be surprised if you later found the two of them hovering around the Yamanaka grounds," he added fondly.

"Chocho seems to be the group leader, am I wrong?" Moegi wondered as she raised a hand to stroke her chin in thoughts.

Shikamaru nodded at this. "As you've just seen, Shikadai isn't easily motivated, and while Inojin usually does as instructed, he's not forceful enough to draw the other two in. Chocho on the other hand has never had any problems dragging them into her little schemes," he explained with a grin – she was Karui's daughter alright!

The jounin smirked as this was very valuable information indeed. If getting the young Akimichi pepped up was the secret to successfully directing this cell, then it would be easier than she'd thought.

She had a feeling she'd have a lot of fun with this team – and, likely, some headaches as well, but that was to be expected, right?

* * *

Shikadai grumbled under his breath about Kiba's words all the way to clan grounds entrance, nodding at Chocho and Inojin as they stood waiting. "'Have fun', my father said – he actually told me to _have fun_ when we're going to get our butts handed to us!" he informed them sourly, kicking a pebble for the principle.

Chocho huffed and crossed her arms over her chest at this. "My mom told me to kick the _professor's_ ass!"

"We can't realistically expect to defeat a jounin – even if it's three versus one," Inojin pointed out with a frown.

"Hurray – it's a test we can't pass!" Shikadai replied sarcastically.

"It's a test we can't really _fail_ , either, though – isn't it?" Inojin asked back, cocking his head to the side. "We just have to give it our best!"

Chocho grinned slowly as she looked at them both. "We're gonna do more than that – team Ino-Shika-Cho will _wow_ her! Right?" she asked rhetorically as she held out her hand palm down.

Inojin smiled as he immediately placed his own hand on top of hers. "Right!" he agreed brightly.

"Right," Shikadai repeated with a sigh as he placed his hand atop theirs, a slight grin pulling at his lips.

Spirits significantly higher than a few minutes before, they made their way to the training grounds, where their professor was already waiting for them with an ominous smile on her face.

"Okay! So let me just set the rules. I want you to try to catch me – shadow bind, mind possession, or physical immobilization, it doesn't matter which," she started cheerfully, making a wide circular sweep around the area with her arm. "We'll stay within the training zone, and you have two hours to reach that goal. If you do, lunch is on me – all you can eat!" she promised, noticing the Akimichi's piqued interest at this.

"And if we fail?" Inojin asked despite himself with a frown.

"Then I'll just train you twice as hard until tonight – and only an apple each for lunch!" Moegi replied with a shrug, holding three apples up ominously.

Chocho's eyes widened in pure shock and she immediately got into position, every ounce of her being now taking this test with the utmost seriousness. "Inojin, Shikadai – get ready to fight as though your lives depend on it!"

"It's only our _lunch_ that's in the balance," Shikadai muttered although he took a few steps back so she'd be on the front while Inojin's hand hovered above his paper scroll, reading to use his ink summoning techniques at any time.

Moegi observed them carefully, turning more serious as well, raising a hand up in the air. "Disperse!" she ordered as she brought it down, signifying the start of the trial. They immediately spread out, and she smiled to herself as they seemed to be taking it seriously, seeing as their camouflage wasn't half-bad – as she'd rightly been told, motivating Chocho in turn ensured her teammates' full commitment.

Ink animals assaulted her and she easily evaded them, inwardly trying to figure out what kind of beasts they were supposed to be – baby lions? They were more cute than scary, but she didn't have much time to dwell on artistic touches as Chocho charged at her, the boulder she formed rotating at full-speed.

So they used the ink creatures for distraction to create an opening, it was a simple but efficient strategy – but she knew she also had to keep an eye on her feet, Chocho might herself be another distraction so Shikadai could grab her shadow.

Leaning to the side to avoid the Akimichi, she held out a foot to make her trip and then rapidly did a few seals to disappear with a doton technique. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noted that Shikadai had succeeded in capturing Chocho's shadow to stop her in her tracks and help her avoid a painful collision with a tree – this obviously wasn't the first time it had happened and their contingency was well in place, so their teamwork was really up to par with what she'd come to expect.

From her hiding spot underground, Moegi's plan was to surprise the Yamanaka, but she was surprised herself as Shikadai hit the ground where she planned to come out with a kunai attached to explosive tags.

So with Shikadai's nose, plain hiding was obviously out of the question, was it? Smiling to herself, she dropped a smoke bomb and jumped out of the way right as Chocho's gigantic arm reached out for her.

Inojin and Chocho promptly regrouped to continue the fight, but Shikadai frowned as he buried his nose in his forehead protector where it rested loosely against his neck, focusing on his own scent to get his bearings after the bomb she'd just dropped – it was scented, she'd obviously planned on using it against him. Letting out a slow breath, he focused on his surroundings as he kept his eyes on his teammates.

How long had they been fighting now? Half an hour? An hour? More? Less? He really couldn't tell. He started as he concentrated on Moegi, and his eyes widened as he couldn't smell the faintest trace of her scent – but she was obviously there, his eyes were telling him as much so…she had to be using genjutsu. "Inojin! Dispel!" he called loudly.

The Yamanaka seemed to get his message immediately, because he closed his eyes and concentrated while Chocho stepped in front of him to cover him. A second later, their eyes snapped open and they found themselves back where the jounin had initially thrown her smoke bomb.

_Very good_ , Moegi thought to herself, satisfied that Shikadai had realized they were in an illusion, and impressed that Inojin had been able to break all three of them out of it. She could take this a level higher then.

"Okay, you two, she asked for it!" Chocho said as she reached in her pouch for a snack, eating the chocolate bar quickly to restock some energy. "This will go on forever unless we step up our game! Formation Cloud!"

Shikadai smirked and Inojin nodded from behind her, rapidly drawing a multitude of creatures to assist her in the assault. Chocho once more grew to large proportions and started her rotation, heading for the jounin.

Moegi moved to avoid her but this time the Akimichi stopped on her own to attack her directly with taijutsu, managing to surprise her when she expanded her hand and reached for her arm.

"Now, Inojin!" she called loudly.

Moegi looked back just in time to use a permutation to get out of Chocho's clutches, tsking as Inojin fell back into Shikadai's arms, obviously victim of the drawbacks of a failed mind possession attempt – he'd be out for a little moment.

After setting him down, Shikadai had quickly taken his pose once more as he tried to get her back towards Chocho by snaking his shadow on the ground, and looking over her shoulder, she realized there was a second Shikadai on her other side, further blocking her in – a shadow clone, not a regular one, she remarked, although it likely wouldn't last very long. Noting she was safely out of his reach, she turned back to block the Akimichi's attack, and as their skin made contact, she felt her mind black-out for a second.

When Moegi next opened her eyes, Chocho proudly held up Inojin's paper scroll where the words ' _Ino-Shika-Cho won – Moegi Ni_ ' were written in wobbly hurried letters. Looking down at her hand, the jounin saw the brush was still in her fingers with some ink coating her skin. "You possessed me?" she asked Inojin with a frown, not remembering the event. "But your technique failed, I saw you fall!"

"You assumed he was trying to possess _you_ ," Shikadai noted with a shrug.

"When he was aiming for _me_ all along!" Chocho added smugly.

Inojin sighed as he looked at the unfinished phrase. "You're strong though, I didn't have time to finish signing your name before you pushed me out," he lamented – he'd really looked forward to showing it to their parents.

"But how did you possess me?" the jounin insisted as she cocked her head to the side.

"Like this – bam!" the Akimichi illustrated as she lightly slapped her palm on Shikadai's face.

"You…transferred your consciousness from Chocho's body to mine when we _touched_?" Moegi clarified, blinking at his nod.

"It was my mom's idea to train on that, hence the name – Formation Cloud," Chocho informed her proudly, frowning at Shikadai as he snapped his teeth at her hand to make her move it away.

"It's weaker than possessing the person directly, but for a few seconds it works," Inojin replied, holding a hand out for his brush.

Moegi slowly grinned at them and handed him his brush back. More than that, this technique of theirs was impressive, because Inojin had managed to mimic Chocho's movements while in her body, the jounin honestly hadn't noticed a difference in the way she fought.

"Tell you what: when you'll all have made chuunin, I'll complete the signature myself!" she promised with a wink.

Shikadai only frowned at her, not liking her offer. "Chuunin? That's even _more_ annoying!" he complained for the principle, sighing as he pat himself to get rid of the dirt caked over his clothes.

"Hey, first things first now!" Chocho hurriedly interrupted seriously. "Lunch! All you can eat! You promised!"

So team Ino-Shika-Cho _did_ get their butts kicked, but then again, they also _did_ 'wow' their professor, and as she made good on her word and treated them to a plentiful lunch afterwards, they figured maybe she wouldn't be _so_ bad.

Maybe.

Moegi for her part learned the hard way that the notion of 'all you can eat' should be forgotten around an Akimichi – for her finances' sake.

When they split up outside of the restaurant, Chocho was the most cheerful as always, and after all, a good meal never failed to make her happy to the core. She was in such a good mood that she was even willing to be nice to their teacher and started to accept her, taking her up on her offer to walk together part of the way. Their excited chatter could still be heard even after they'd rounded a corner and Inojin and Shikadai shared a look and a sigh as they figured maybe an unholy alliance was underway after all.

"I think we'll be okay though," the Yamanaka noted, ever the optimist.

Shikadai huffed as he raised an eyebrow at him. "This is us you're talking about – of course we'll be okay!" he reminded him needlessly.

Inojin chuckled and nodded, bouncing back on his heels as he looked at the time. "I'm going to stop by the art store to get more supplies. Wanna tag along?" he offered him easily.

"Gonna drop by the clinic – see if my aunt has a moment to show me a thing or two," Shikadai replied after a moment's pause. Wordlessly, they clapped hands and each went on their way.

Their phones rang with a message shortly after and they chuckled as it was a victory smiling face from Chocho.

They were team Ino-Shika-Cho – _of course_ they'd be okay! Today, tomorrow, and all the days to come.

That was what their nindo was all about, after all.

* * *

_THE END_

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so much with this chapter! I had a lot of fun with the entire fic, but writing the kids was awesome in a different way! I hope you liked my take on them...
> 
> I couldn't find a family name for Moegi - I'll be happy to make the changes if anyone knows! :)
> 
> On another note, there will be a third story in this series, set a few years later and focusing on Shikadai. I hope to see you there! :)


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